The search for 3 police officers who disappeared last week while travelling from Free State to Limpopo has led to a gruesome discovery.
A search by divers at the Hennops River in Centurion resulted in the retrieval of 5 bodies with 3 believed to be those of the missing officers.
Constables Cebekhulu Linda, 24, Keamogetswe Buys, 30, and Boipelo Senoge, 20, were last seen at a petrol station in Grasmere, outside Johannesburg.
While police are convinced that three of the bodies are those of the missing officers there’s no indication of who are the two others retrieved from the river.
“Our divers have since managed to locate the fifth body, that of a woman. At this point in time, I am also not in a position to say I can confirm that it is one of our members or not, because the investigation is continuing and the family hasn’t even identified the person, so I’m not able to confirm that this is the person. But this is the fifth body and I can also confirm that so far we’ve got two males and three women,” said Deputy National Police Commissioner Major General Shadrack Sibiya.
While the two bodies are yet to be identified, indications are that the three are that of the missing officers.
“So far they are with the National Commissioner, they have been informed and where they are now I’m not able to report on that because I’m not even there, I’m here on the scene on the ground (
“So far they are with the National Commissioner, they have been informed and where they are now I’m not able to report on that because I’m not even there, I’m here on the scene on the ground but the family have been informed by the National Commissionerand the final details of this whole operation will actually be discussed with the National Commissioner who will then take the nation into his confidence and inform the nation,” said Sibiya on whether there’s confirmation that the three bodies are those of the missing officers.
The car that the three officers were travelling in is yet to be recovered and Sibiya said no stone will be left unturned as officers seek answers on what exactly happened.
“Yes, we are told that on that fateful morning it was raining cats and dogs and the river was overflowing so we’re still investigating but we’re also still searching for a vehicle. For as long as we haven’t found a vehicle it’s very difficult to relax and say now we will trace the body,” said Sibiya.
